Brenau University’s new Director of Alumni & Constituent Engagement Ashley Carter knows the Gainesville campus well – she received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from her “new” employer.

Brenau Grad Returns to Campus as New Alumni Director

Jul. 26, 2016

Brenau Staff

Ashley Morgan Carter did not need directions to find her way around campus on her first day as Brenau University’s alumni director last week. She already knew about the place because her mother, Stacey Henson Morgan, graduated from the Brenau University Women’s College in 1988. Then Carter herself earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the school.

“When I was walking around the campus,” said Carter, “it just felt so good to be back in a place that is familiar and so comfortable.”

The Gainesville, Georgia, native and 2004 Chestatee High School graduate earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from Brenau in 2009. Carter attended daytime classes as a Brenau University Women’s College student during her first three years on campus. However, after accepting a full-time job during her senior year, she wrapped up her degree requirements online and with evening and weekend classes at Brenau’s Gainesville and Norcross campuses.

Her extracurricular activities included a stint as the president of Brenau’s Students in Free Enterprise chapter. Her team made it all the way to national competition in Dallas, Texas.

Carter returned to the university to earn an MBA in healthcare management in 2012.

“I have great memories of campus events and classes,” she said. “I love everything about Brenau.”

Carter reports to Matt Thomas, vice president for external relations at Brenau.

“Ashley from the beginning will relate automatically to a wide range of Brenau alumni,” said Thomas. “Her mother was a Women’s College student and so was Ashley, which gives her an understanding of the heritage and rich traditions of that College. However, she was also a nontraditional student who completed both undergraduate and graduate degrees while juggling full-time job and growing family responsibilities. Plus, her professional experience involved building relationships in business and health care arenas, which fits with the university’s top two academic emphases.”

Carter worked for two years at Northeast Georgia Health System as a patient-care technician and unit secretary and for three years as a health careers coordinator for the Foothills Area Health Education Center.

“During my time at AHEC, there was event planning, scheduling clinical shadowing for a four-week onsite program, managing and organizing clinical placements for a 31-county region,” Carter said. “I think there have been many skills attained and experiences over the past 10 years that will directly relate to the responsibilities I will have here at Brenau.”

Brenau recently partnered with AHEC for its new Medical Scholars program, which is designed to stir students interests in potential health care careers. You can read more about the program in “Medical Scholars Start Young” in the Summer 2016 issue of Brenau Window, the university’s alumni magazine, online at http://window.brenau.edu/articles/medical-scholars-start-young/.

Carter replaces Jenny Dell, who ran the alumni office for five years. Carter and her husband, Dustin Joel Carter, live in Gainesville. They have two children, Marley, 4, and Miles, 20 months.

“I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to come back home,” Carter said. “It will be awesome to be on the other side of alumnae weekend and May Day, helping plan it and coming up with new ways to reach out to the alumni body. I am already excited for April.”